Mobile: The new shopping buddy of women

NEW YORK, USA: Time Inc. and Nuance Digital Marketing, has revealed a study that shed more light on how the smartphone is the most important device in a woman's life. The joint study titled "Women + Mobile: The Unbreakable Bond" offers deep insights into how mobile devices have impacted the way women communicate and shop, the key differences in the way men and women feel about and engage with their smartphones and tablets, and ultimately how women interact with mobile advertising.

Relationship with devices

87 percent of women say they can't imagine their lives without their phone. It's the first thing she looks at in the morning (78 percent), the last thing before going to bed (73 percent) and it's with her wherever she goes (98 percent). Women are "addicted" to their smartphones (64 percent vs. 58 percent of men).

88 percent of women say smartphones give them something to do during their 92 minutes a day of "empty" time - waiting on line at the bank, for an appointment, or sitting in the car waiting for the kids to get out of school. Women often fill that time with mobile activities that provide emotional pleasure - social media (72 percent vs. 64 percent of men), text messaging (88 percent vs. 80 percent of men), and shopping (55 percent vs. 46 percent of men).

Shopping Habits

Mobile is driving men and women to shop online more than ever, but their shopping paths are divergent.

For men, shopping on the smartphone is about getting the job done. They use their mobile devices to find a nearby store (58 percent), to conduct a product search (50 percent) or make a purchase (41percent). They are also more likely to scan QR codes (50 percent) than their female counterparts (38 percent).

Women love the mobile shopping journey, and leverage a device's features and apps through every stage to make smarter choices about what they're buying. During the discovery stage, women use their smartphones to make and save product wish lists (32 percent vs. 26 percent of men). In the planning stage, they collect discount coupons (23 percent vs. 14 percent of men) and make shopping lists (46 percent vs. 38 percent of men).

At purchase, women check in on apps like Foursquare to get discounts (17 percent vs. 14 percent of men). And post-purchase, they share photos of their new products (52 percent vs. 35 percent). Additionally, nearly half of all women would rather use their smartphone to get additional information than ask a sales associate in-store.

Advertising Implications

Traditional down time has been revamped with smartphone and tablet activity, opening a window of opportunity for content providers and marketers during the new "found time" segments of the day.

Study shows that 41 percent of women say they're more welcoming to ads that let them control the experience. 52 percent of women are more interested in ads that are relevant to the content she is already immersed in. 52 percent of women say they would notice ads that have colorful and bright visuals. 41 percent of women would like ads that give her offers based on location.

While the majority of the study's findings indicate that women actually do want to hear from advertisers if it is relevant to their purchase, 91 percent of women across generations said they are less than thrilled with mobile ads that are intrusive, creating a negative experience.